Environmental impact studies for offshore wind projects endeavor to consider sensitivity to potential pressures of ecological compartments (benthos, birds and marine mammals). In this context, and as a complementary approach to the traditional impact assessment, the objective of the TROPHIK project is to develop an integrated ecosystem overview through the establishment of modeling tools considering the food web as a whole.

The proposed model will consider the entire ecosystem, from plankton to birds, and will include tools adapted to this ecosystemic approach. Work will be based on information from the wind farm of Courseulles-sur-Mer which is a representative site in the eastern basin of the Bay of Seine.

The project will also improve understanding of the impacts of cumulative effects on ecosystems (predominant pressures before the introduction of MRE exploitation: deposition of dredged material, fisheries, climate change, etc.).